ED to attach more assets of Nirav Modi, seek red corner notice if he skips third summons

ED to attach more assets of Nirav Modi, seek red corner notice if he skips third summons

India Today has exclusively learned that as per the ED's plan of action, if Nirav skips his third summons on February 26, the legal team of the agency will approach the special PMLA court the next day itself with a series of requests and applications against him, Mehul Choksi and others involved in the scam.

advertisement

Virendrasingh Ghunawat

Mumbai

February 23, 2018

UPDATED: February 23, 2018 22:13 IST

(Photo: Reuters)

HIGHLIGHTS

Nirav Modi skipped his second summons issued by ED.

He has been told to be present again on February 26.

ED would make provisional attachments of Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi's assets.

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) is all set to begin its legal course of action against the main accused in the Rs 11,400 crore Punjab National Bank (PNB) fraud case from next week.

Citing the temporary suspension of his passport and pending business issues abroad, Nirav Modi remained absent on February 22 and intentionally skipped his second summons.

The ED has now issued its third summons and asked Nirav to join the investigation and appear before the agency in Mumbai on February 26. He has been summoned under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

Investigators said it would not be surprising if Modi wrote a second email to ED with a few more reasons for his non-appearance.

A few days ago, ED director Karnal Singh, who has been monitoring the entire fraud case, was in Mumbai to strategise the game plan.

The closed-door meeting was attended by special director (western region), joint directors of both Zone 1 and Zone 2, the head of the legal team and senior investigating officers.

ED TO APPROACH SPECIAL PMLA COURT

India Today has exclusively learnt that as per the ED's plan of action, if Nirav skips his third summons on February 26, the legal team of the agency will approach the special PMLA court the next day itself with a series of requests and applications against him, Mehul Choksi and others involved in the scam.

The ED would wait for Nirav Modi till Monday evening. Chances are more that he may not attend it. Let him skip the third summons. From (the) next day, our legal team would come into action.

- Enforcement Directorate official

"The ED would wait for Nirav Modi till Monday evening. Chances are more that he may not attend it. Let him skip the third summons. From (the) next day, our legal team would come into action," the ED official told India Today.

The team will first begin with a non-bailable warrant (NBW) application against Nirav and his fugitive relatives.

RED CORNER NOTICE REQUEST

Subsequently, a joint team of ED and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) will request international agency Interpol to issue a red corner notice against all the accused. The CBI had recently issued a diffusion notice against them.

The agency would also make provisional attachments of Nirav and Choksi's personal assets such as bungalows, flats, apartments, vehicles, investments, solar plants and SEZ units all across India.

Sources say both of them have at least 40-50 personal properties all over India registered under their own and relatives' names.

The agency has a complete list of properties and their examination is underway.

MAKING UP FOR UNDERVALUED ASSETS

Ironically, due to low-grade diamond jewellery and overpricing issues, once they are valued, the assets which would likely be seized could reduce by half from Rs 6,000 crore to around Rs 3,000-3,500 crore.

As a result, the agency will concentrate on attaching the maximum number of commercial and personal assets from across the country of all the accused.

This would take the total valuation of all attached assets to nearly Rs 5,000-6,000 crore, if not more, by the end of the investigation.

LETTERS ROGATORY AGAINST NIRAV, CHOKSI

Until that time, the legal team will be ready with another set of papers ie; letters rogatory (LRs) against Nirav and Choksi.

Within two weeks, the agency would then send these LRs to Hong Kong, Belgium, UK, USA, South Africa, Singapore and Dubai, seeking banking and financial details of the accused and their companies.

Later, it would be followed by another request in the PMLA court to declare Nirav and Choksi as proclaimed offenders, ie; "Absconders", under the PMLA Act.

Unlike the Vijay Mallya case, this time ED seems to be well-armed to fight its money-laundering war against the fugitive diamond traders given the Rs 5,100 crore seizure of assets that was made in one day.